EIGHTIES LETTERS AND FAN DIARY

13: JUNE 1984

Friday 1st June

More lazing about the place doing nothing, topped off in the evening by a visit
to the Indian restaurant Avedon and I ate in last time she was over. Since this
is the only full restaurant - as opposed to takeaway - on Green Street, I suppose
this isn't too surprising, though it seems pretty mediocre to me.

Saturday 2nd June

Took Avedon to her first Westminster Comic Mart, where she insisted on telling
Alan Moore how wonderful he is after having read a few issues of his SWAMP
THING the night before. Moore was gracious and accepted this praise as his due
(only to be expected given how much has been heaped on him of late, I suppose.)
I bought very little, as usual.

We had expected to see Linda, Greg, and Lucy, but they didn't show, so instead we
went for a drink with Steve Higgins, who did. Avedon stole drags on his cigarettes,
despite allegedly having quit.

Avedon in Covent Garden

Later, we went over to Duckett Road to visit Malcolm Edwards. He was alone with
baby son Thomas, Chris Atkinson having gone off to be briefed on NVDA (Non-Violent
Direct Action) tactics for next Saturday's CND march through London.

Sunday 3rd June

Visited the Nicholas/Hanna flat in Pimlico for a gathering that included Ian & Janice
Maule, John & Eve Harvey, Justin Ackroyd, Brian Smith, Phil Palmer, Linda Pickersgill,
and Lucy Huntzinger. Chris Atkinson showed up with her baby later. Avedon drank little,
but got tipsy anyway. Truly, she has all the capacity for alcohol of a gnat.

Monday 4th June

Intending to visit Kensington Gardens ("The name of a low-rent housing project where
I live" - Avedon), we first stopped off on Queensway where Avedon bought a watch, earrings,
and two T-shirts.

In Kensington Gardens themselves, we were stopped from progressing too far by a newly-
erected wooden fence which closed off Kensington Palace entirely. Avedon asked a policeman
what was going on.

"Security for the visit of your President," he said.
"That jerk's no president of mine!" she protested.

Later, in Kensington High Street, she bought cigarettes. Four days she managed to last.
Pathetic!

Tuesday 5th June

Went on a pub crawl today. Avedon and I met Lucy in the Black Friar at 1.30pm (she was
a half hour late due to "oversleeping"), and progressed from there to the Ludgate Cellars.
From here we went on to the Cheddar Cheese ad this was the one that really impressed them
since it was rebuilt in 1667 (after being burned down in the Great Fire the year before)
and was originally built before Columbus set sail for America. They were so impressed in fact
that they wrote a postcard about it to Patrick & Teresa Nielsen Hayden there and then. I
added a few blase lines about how easily impressed colonials were.

Our trip to Camden Town after this could have proved a flop, since the markets only open on
weekends, had it not been for a couple of things. Firstly, Avedon was delighted to find
copies of Valerie Solanis's SCUM MANIFESTO in Compendium, a book long suppressed in the
US, and then we encountered pop-group Madness enjoying a break in filming of their latest
music video at Camden Lock itself. Since Madness were her favourite group, Lucy was overjoyed
by this encounter, and declared that lead singer Suggs looked "really neat!"

Wednesday 6th June

The fortieth anniversary of D-Day, and my first day back at work, *sigh*.

The girls went on a pub crawl with John Jarrold, and the ever-cool one deposited the
contents of his stomach on most of the stations of the Piccadilly Line afterwards.
Nice one, John!

6th June 1984 - letter to Sue Williams

You asked me to itemise my outgoings for MEXICON but since I didn't keep any records
as I went along this is kind of difficult. Anyway, it involved paper and materials
for producing the first three Progress Reports, and a fair bit of postage when I was
getting things together for the Programme Book and sending them out piecemeal to Kate
Davies. At a rough estimate I figure this probably all came to about £10. On to
other associated matters.....

I have a photo of Russell Hoban I have to return to Jonathan Cape's publicity department
and they'll doubtless want a copy or two of the programme book, as do Penguin. Since, as I
mentioned after MEXICON, I'd like a three or four extra copies of this myself could you
send these down and I'll forward any you haven't already sent to those publishers.

Lucy was saying that MEXICON was the best con she's ever been to and now, a week-and-a-half
down the line, I'm able to look back at it fairly objectively and say that it ranks pretty
high on my list as well. Y'know, I think we did something right....

Thursday 7th June

First Thursday of the month, and so the One Tun. ATom, Vince Clarke, Dave Wood, and
Mal & Hazel Ashworth made it seem like fifties fandom revival night (not that Hazel is
that old...). Then again, there was one point at which I realised I was entirely
surrounded by American women - Avedon, Lucy, Linda, Leah Zeldes. So it goes.

Dave Wood, Hazel & Mal Asworth, Arthur Thomson

John Jarrold chats to ATom and the Ashworths outside the Tun

Friday 8th June

On getting in from work I discovered the flat was infested with fans, Lucy and Martin
Tudor having called over prior to our visit to tonight's Surrey Limpwrist meeting,
which we all travelled to together.

Martin Tudor, Lucy, and Avedon at our local tube station,
Upton Park

This was the first of their meetings I'd been to in three years and so we had some
difficulty finding their new pub, the Royal Oak in New Malden. When we did, those present
included the Maules, Joseph & Judith, Brian Smith, and George Bondar. After a mere two pints
Lucy was pissed again. What is it with these American women who can't hold their drink?

At the end of the evening, we departed with Joseph and Judith, Avedon and I leaving
them at Victoria and boarded the tube to continue our journey back to Upton Park. Avedon
fell into a doze on my shoulder, which was fortunate as it hid the CND stickers we were
wearing from the pair of thugs who sat down opposite us. Their own NF badges identified
them as members of the National Front, a fascist group. They began making lewd comments
about most of the women in the carriage (but not Avedon), and took particular exception
to one guy across the way from us ("Whatya think you're lookin' at, sunshine?") I
whispered in Avedon's ear that we should get off next stop and move up a carriage.
We did, and so did the guy being threatened, along with his girlfriend.

Saturday 9th June - from fanzine report

Well, on June the 9th I did it again. Once again I found myself on a CND march, this
time in the company of Avedon Carol and Martin Tudor. We started off by meeting
outside FORBIDDEN PLANET and originally there were supposed to be four of us...only
Lucy "I'll march by myself if no-one else turns up" Huntzinger didn't show. Had some
wimpy excuse about having ate too much meat, smoked two much dope, drunk too much
(about two pints), and overslept.

Avedon at the rally, Martin with his back to camera.

The march set off from Hyde Park and as usual there was the problem of which banner
to march behind. Last time the Pickersgills and I had marched behind Scottish CND
(Lord knows why...) but this time me were looking for something more appropriate. So
naturally enough we ended up in the Welsh CND section only for some inexplicable
reason or other Avedon and Martin didn't seem terribly enthralled by this choice.
After a while of having to put up with Avedon's cracks about "...lousy Welsh cooks..."
(don't ask) I was about to ask her
just-who-she-wanted-to-march-behind-and-it-didn't-matter-to-me
anyway-as-all-I-wanted-was-a-bit-of-peace-and-quiet
when the answer presented itself. Marching up through the column of groups waiting to
leave the park area a small banner-carrying group who were being applauded by most
everyone when they saw the name on their banner: EMBARRASSED AMERICANS AGAINST REAGAN

"Them," said Avedon, "I wanna march with them."

This was fine with Martin and me (it was a cool banner after all) so we wormed our
way up to where they were starting from and fell-in with the banner carriers. As if to
prove the theory that there really are only a few thousand people in the, world
(the rest being cardboard cut-outs) one of the them turned out to have been a
student at the same Washington DC college where Avedon had learned sign language
(not that Avedon is deaf, y'understand, but she wanted learn how to easily
communicate with deaf people) and in no time at all their hands were flashing about,
making the sort of arcane gestures not usually seen outside the pages of a DR.STRANGE
comicbook. Since the only two signs I know are used to tell someone to 'fuck off' or
to indicate that the person next to me is a wanker I didn't play too large a part in
the conversation.

An embarrassed American

The march sticker, scanned from the front page
of my diary, where it was affixed right after the march. This was the same
sticker Avedon and I were wearing on the tube the previous night during our
encounter with fascists.

The really neat thing about marching under EMBARRASSED AMERICANS AGAINST REAGAN was
watching the reactions of the bystanders. For the most part they Seemed delighted by
the banner and either burst into applause or cheered or both, but some didn't.
Certain elderly people, who looked like American tourists, watched stone-faced as
we marched on by. This aside the response of the spectators was heady wine and the
Americans around us, as well as those marching under AMERICANS AGAINST AMERICAN NUCLEAR
IMPERIALISM, were all in favour of splitting off from the main body and marching on
the American Embassy until it was pointed out to them that this sort of thing could
result in them being deported.

In spite of her multiple nameless ailments Avedon held up pretty well through most of
the march but by the time we all assembled in Trafalgar Square she was beginning to
flag and was in dire need of Coke. There was only one thing for it: McDonalds.

While Coke was enough for Avedon, Martin and myself partook of their famous fare - he
had a fishburger while I feasted on an Egg McMuffin ("The perfect food" - M.Edwards).

"Jeez, I just can't believe you guys are actually eating that stuff!" said Avedon,
nose wrinkling in disgust.

Since Egg McMuffins are not usually taken nasally or intravenously this seemed a pretty
strange observation; but there y'go.

An evening around at the Pickersgills spent mocking Lucy, sitting drinking beer on the
balcony, watching Concorde fly over and Saying Things about Dick Bergeron seemed the
perfect end to the day. Although travelling home on the tube and not encountering
Nazis (as we had the night before) seemed pretty, good as well.

Sunday 10th June

Avedon and I got up at some ungodly hour to meet Dave & Hazel Langford when their
train from Reading arrived at Paddington. From there we all travelled over to the
Armenian church in South Kensington for reasons related to Avedon's ethnic
background that I didn't record. While Hazel and Avedon went inside to watch
the service Dave and I waited outside and discussed fannish matters.

Following a pleasant pub lunch we headed back to East London. A brief stop at
Greenleaf Road was followed by a bus and Ferry ride to South Woolwich, where
a smiling Arthur Thomson was waiting to drive us to Welling and the KTF (Kent
TruFandom) meeting in Vince Clarke's house. Vince and Ted Tubb were there
when we arrived, with Johns Jarrold and Harvey joining us later. Ted was unwise
enough to begin expounding his opinions on women and so got into a heated argument
with Avedon about feminism.

John Jarrold, Ted Tubb, John Harvey.

Dave and Hazel had to leave at 6.30pm in order to get back to Reading at a sensible
hour, but Avedon and I stayed 'til late. ATom gave us a lift back to Woolwich in the
evening and we got to the Woolwich ferry just in time to see it close at 9.30pm. This
meant we had to cross the river by means of the eerie, echoing pedestrian subway under
the Thames.

Tuesday 12th June

Lucy called over during the day to work on RUDE BITCH with Avedon. When I got in from
work we went up town for a drink, Lucy coming back to Upton Park with us and staying
the night.

Wednesday 13th June

Went straight from work to FORBIDDEN PLANET (where I picked up AMERICAN FLAGG! #12
and WARRIOR #20) then home. When I got in I was surprised to see Lucy and Avedon
since I'd been expecting them to have already left for tonight's meeting of the
women's group. Turns out Lucy couldn't afford to go to a restaurant beforehand, as
the group does, so they were going along later. In fact they didn't depart until
after I'd left for the monthly North London pool session.

Also at the Salisbury for pool and alcohol tonight were Malcolm Edwards & Chris
Atkinson, the Charnocks, Jimmy Robertson, Anne Warren, Phil Palmer, Cyril Simsa,
Dai Price, Paul Kincaid, Chis Evans, Roy Kettle, John Brosnan, and Rob Holdstock &
Sarah Biggs - quite the turnout. I left early, and purely by coincidence met Avedon
on the platform at Embankment. She was delighted to see me.

Thursday 14th June

Since the pool session and women's group meetings are on the same night every month
I'd arranged for an extra pool session tonight so that Avedon could experience one.
Thus, for the second night in a row, I found myself travelling over to Harringey. We
were late getting there, arriving at 8.30pm, but Lucy, Malcolm & Chris, Phil Palmer,
Leroy Kettle, Pam Wells, and Chris Priest all showed up.

Friday 15th June

Tonight's BSFA meeting at the King of Diamonds featured a talk by John Clute. Due
to a double-booking we were once again back in the upstairs bar which, since its
conversion to a cocktail bar, carries no beer. Going in search of that glorious
fluid, the Harveys, Lucy, Avedon and I set up shop at a table in the downstairs
bar We were later joined by ATom.

At the end of the evening Lucy, Avedon, and I travelled over to Paddington with
Dave Langford, and thence to Reading where we were staying the weekend with him
and Hazel.

Saturday 16th June

At midday, after a good night's sleep, we set off along the canal towpath on a
leisurely walk into town to eat at a pub that served a peculiar array of pies
(pheasant, chicken & sweetcorn, lamb & mint, kidney & fennel, etc.) Later, we
picked up some wine (Asti-Spumante for Avedon, a box of Riesling for Dave and me)
and headed back to the Langfords' London Road abode via the scenic route. This took
in the ruins of Reading Abbey and a park that had a large stone lion, complete with
genitals.

The Forbury Park lion (photo by Dave
Langford)

"He couldn't have those in America," observed Lucy.

Back at the house, Lucy insisted on starting in on the editing of RUDE BITCH #2
but was hampered by the fact that Avedon had drank all the Asti and was now pissed.
Slumped in a corner, she drunkenly demanded cheese and crackers, which the
ever-obliging Dave rushed out to get. Later, when Dave, Avedon, and I went upstairs
to play computer games, Lucy retired sulking to her sleeping bag.

The evening trek to The Pheasant ("Just a short walk," lied Dave) failed to produce
the expected Hoares, Hughes, and Huxley, but we had a good time at the pub anyway.

Sunday 17th June

When we woke, Avedon could barely move because of her arthritis. I volunteered to rush
down and prepare a pot of tea so that she could take the coated-aspirin that
would relieve it. Downstairs I met Hazel, who was pottering about. After taking the
tea to Avedon I returned and chatted to Hazel until Dave made his appearance.

When we were all present and accounted for Avedon, Dave, Lucy and I made our way to a
towpath pub for a few pints of Directors. This being summer, heavy rain kept us in
there until closing time. It also kept us in the tandoori takeaway place where we went
for food on the way back.

When we finally got back to the house, Lucy claimed tiredness and slunk
away to her sleeping bag again, leaving the rest of us to the arduous task of playing
computer games. Lucy did stir later, managing to type up a few pages of RUDE BITCH
before she, Avedon and I caught the 6.15pm back to London.

Taking a local line train back out to Ealing Broadway we discovered when we got
there that - surprise, surprise - it was raining! We stopped in at a pizzeria then
made our way to the Queen Victoria for the Friends In Space meeting, which only Greg,
Linda, and Pam Wells showed up to. We had a good time, though.

At South Ealing station while we waited to catch a tube train back to east London,
Avedon, having been much annoyed by Lucy's attitude all weekend, threatened to "deck"
her. Oh these macho women!

19th June 1984 - letter to Joe Siclari

Here is that fanhistorical article we discussed at SEACON 84...or most of it, anyway.
Things, you see, haven't gone quite as I expected them to. Originally we'd decided that
I'd send you a copy of the fanthology the piece was appearing in first and you'd reprint
it in FANHISTORICA, only it didn't appear in the fanthology. As MEXICON (which was a
terrific convention, by the way) came rushing towards us with the speed of an express train,
Harry Bell decided that the fanthology was outgrowing its budget and a major cut was needed.
Guess what? As it happened this suited me just fine since I hadn't finished it (tho' I've
written more since) and was experiencing my own budgetary problems and deadline crisis on
the Programme Book. So you actually get to publish it first. However, Avedon Carol, who came
over for MEXICON, has been staying with me ever since and I've been rather distracted and
haven't actually finished it yet. I'm certain I'll now be able to finish it before the end of
June but since I don't want to squeeze your production schedule on FANHISTORICA I'm sending
along as much as is done (about 3/4) so that you can start getting stencils typed.

Which is about it for now. Since I've given myself the end of the month as an absolute
deadline you should have the final bit no later than the end of the first week of July. Hope
that's OK and that what I've done so far meets with your approval. See you at the Worldcon.

Thursday 21st June

WIZ arrives in the mail with its snide comments about Avedon. Oh that Bergeron!

Saturday 23rd June

The Pickersgills, Lucy, Avedon and I went for a walk around Camden Town, the first
time our visitors had seen it when the markets were open. These proved the attraction
I knew they would and Avedon and Lucy bought earrings, Lucy favouring spiders
and skulls. Didn't see anyone famous this time, but watched people dancing on a barge
with bemusement.

Lucy, Avedon and me

Friday 29th June - from FISH HELMET #6

You may recall that when the last FISH HELMET appeared, many moons ago, it was a xeroxed
edition due to a technical fault in the mighty Greenleaf Road presses. You do? Good. Well
anyway, what with MEXICON an' all I've not had time to give the problem the attention it
deserved and for long months my Gestetner has lain in a state of disrepair. Recently,
however, I noticed a nut and washer lying in a depression under the paper feed tray and I
wondered if this might be the source of the problem (not for nothing do I have an HNC in
Mechanical Engineering - it cost plenty). I discovered where these went, replaced them,
did a test run, and found that all appears to be hunky-dory once more. Which is why this
is once again a mimeoed production.

Saturday 30th June

An all-day party at 7A Lawrence Road, and the biggest there in years. Down from Newcastle
were Kev & Sue Williams, Harry Bell and Mike Hamilton, while Martin Tudor had travelled
from Birmingham, and Alun Harries from Wales. In the early stages of the party I noticed
there were more women than men present - very unusual for a fannish party - but when I
pointed this out I was met with some derision, most of it from Chris Evans.

Some great music was pumping out from Greg's 'ghetto blaster', and at one point I found
myself dancing out on the balcony with Faith Brooker, watched by a group of open-mouthed
kids who'd been playing tennis down in the street when we began. When we finished they
clapped and cheered, so we took a bow. It seemed the only thing to do.

Though we'd originally intended to stay over, Avedon wasn't feeling too good so, alas,
we left early.